Outlook is a very powerful program that is used for communication in corporate workplaces. It is Office email client developed by Microsoft for sending, receiving and managing your mails and other data. IT uses a special type of file called PST file that maintains all your Outlook data. But these Outlook PST files can go weird at times at times due to improper maintenance or some unknown errors. You may encounter some situations in which you might lose your PST file or your PST file might get corrupt. This results in loss of your vital emails, contacts and other Outlook PST file data. Hence, you need to be careful with the Outlook PST file.

When working with Outlook, you need to keep a couple of things in mind. You can avoid such situations of corrupt PST files and you’ll find that Outlook runs more stable and more pleasant to work with. Here are few do’s and don’t’s that need to be kept in mind while working with your Outlook PST file:

Do’s:

Backup PST file regularly: Backup stands at the top in cases of data security. I believe no one would like to lose their data in Outlook. Making a regular backup of your Outlook PST will always come in handy whenever your PST file is corrupt or deleted. Taking backup is as simple as copying the PST file. It can be done using the “Export” function of your Outlook. So, always do make sure you take regular PST file backup.

Disable virus scanner integration: Integrating the virus scanner with Outlook seems to be the best option. But in fact it causes a lot of issues with receiving, sending and displaying emails. It could even slow down your Outlook. Simply disable it and know the difference. Don’t worry about the virus protection since; you will have an on-access scanner already from the virus scanner installed on your system.

Disable add-ins you don’t use: There are some applications, that when you install them it also installs some options into your Outlook you don’t ever use them. For example, instance, when you install iTunes, an add-in to sync your Outlook calendar to your iPod will also get installed. While you might never use that function or that might not support the iPod version you use.

Having a lot of add-ins can make Outlook to perform slowly or even get corrupt when the add-in is faulty or is not compatible with the version of Outlook you use. Therefore, it’s better to disable or uninstall such add-ins that you are not using within Outlook.

Use Cache Mode: It is highly recommended to set your client to run in cached mode, this creates a local copy of your mailbox. Simultaneously, it maintains an online connection to the Exchange server with in your mail box. This increases the access speed to your messages and attachments as you are working from a local copy rather than the server copy.

Manage the location of your PST file: As the PST file is portable; you can store them anywhere on your network, which is accessible to your PC. If there are multiple PST files and are taking up excessive disk space, then you can store them on a network server that is easily reachable.

Dont’s:

Don’t keep excess data in PST file: Always make sure, you keep limited data on your PST file according to the PST file size. It is the next practice to keep the file size less than 2GB (in 2007 and earlier versions) and 20 GB (in 2010 and above). If you have a lot of the items; break it out into multiple PST files, this is fully supported and will prevent the potential data loss.

Another drawback to large PST files is performance. The more data that is accumulated in the file, the slower the performance will be when accessing and finding items in the file. Hence, keeping your PST file size in check will help you maintain acceptable performance.

Do not encrypt or compress your PST file: Even though encryption and compression manage the PST file size and improve security it results in performance degradation. And in some circumstances, it might even corrupt your PST file.

Do not import just connect: When you have an extra PST file and want to store it in your main PST file, don’t use the Import function. Instead simply copy or move the items from one folder to the other. In your account settings you can assign to which pst-file you want your new emails to be delivered to.

Do not ActiveSync and Calendars: As a best practice do not use ActiveSync mobile devices, such as IOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod) & Android to modify your calendar. Modifying calendar entries with your ActiveSync mobile device may cause inconsistencies on your calendar.

Above explained are just a few of the do’s and don’t’s for using Outlook PST file. Next time whenever you are using the Outlook, keep these points in mind and avoid the situations of PST file corruption. However, sometimes your Outlook might crash and causing Outlook PST file corruption. In such cases, if you do not have proper backup then you will lose all your vital emails and contacts. Nevertheless, there is no need to worry, as you can effortlessly repair your Outlook PST file using a tool called Remo Repair Outlook PST tool. Thus, it is always better to be away from such situations and be cautious.